Friends unite for a benefit concert to help Brett Walls, who is suffering from a rare condition called "Locked-In Syndrome." Plus, The Fairmount Girls put on a "retrospective" show, the Blue Wisp Big Band moves to the Pirate's Den, Dallas Moore releases his latest album and Findlay Market celebrates Mardi Gras.

One of the few “Alternative Revolution” bands left over from the ’90s, Primus, returns to Cincinnati tonight for a special show at the Taft Theatre. The veteran band is still one of the more unique and eccentric groups around that maintains a large fan base. That’s singularity might have something to do with their longevity. Primus has never had anything to do with flash-in-the-pan musical fads. Les Claypool and Co.’s latest is a blissfully oddball addition to an already blissfully oddball discography. Primus and the Chocolate Factory is a creative interpretation of the music from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory film. Reviews from previous live shows on Primus’ tour for the album say the band opens with a set of Primus hits; the second set focuses on Chocolate Factory, replete with matching stage production. Check out Charlie Harmon’s preview of the show for CityBeat here.
Tickets for tonight’s show are $39.50-$45. Showtime is 8 p.m.
• One of Greater Cincinnati’s most unique annual music events, the Blues & Boogie Piano Summit, returns for its 15th year this weekend. For the 2014 edition, the showcase of international Boogie Woogie Blues pianists takes place over two nights (Friday and Saturday) at the Southgate House Revival.
The Boogie Piano Summit was founded by Ricky Nye, Cincinnati’s top purveyor of Boogie Woogie, a rollicking, highly rhythmic style of Blues piano that was influential in the formation and development of Rock & Roll and various styles of Blues, Jazz and Country music. This year’s edition of the Summit is dedicated to the “New Breed of Boogie Woogie,” showcasing three players all under the age of 30 (the same lineup performs both nights). The event features Switzerland’s Chris Conz, Iowa’s Chase Garrett and Germany’s Luca Sestak (watch clips from each below).
Click here for more on the show.
Tickets are $30 for a seat or $25 for standing room only. (Save $5 on tomorrow’s show by purchasing them in advance here.)
• The Rusty Ball, organized and starring fun, popular local ’80s cover group The Rusty Griswolds returns to the Duke Energy Convention Center tomorrow night at 8 p.m.. Tickets range from $75-$175. The show is the Griswolds' annual charitable event, with proceeds going to numerous local charities (the show has generated nearly $2 million for over 300 charities since it began in 2008). Special guest this year is ’80s/’90s Pop star Taylor Dayne. Click here for full details.
• Toronto Rock twosome catl. performs a free show Saturday at MOTR Pub. It’s a night of duos, as the Canadians are joined by locals Halvsies and Brooklyn’s Mark Rogers & Mary Byrne. Showtime is 10 p.m.
Here’s a clip for catl.’s bluesy, boogying “Gotta Thing for You” from their album Soon This Will All Be Gone. This spring the band released its fourth album, The Shakin’ House.
• Rootsy Nashville rockers The Wild Feathers play Oakley’s 20th Century Theater on Sunday. Showtime is 8 p.m. and tickets are $15 in advance or $17 day of show.
The Wild Feathers began at the start of the decade, when guitarist/singer Ricky Young and bassist/singer Joel King decided to put together a band that featured four lead vocalists, each as important as the next. The resulting ensemble, with the addition of guitarists/singers Taylor Burns and Preston Wimberly (Ben Dumas plays drums) clicked instantly. The band signed to Warner Bros. and released its self-titled debut last year. Rolling Stone gave the album a glowing review, saying the LP brings to mind “everyone from the Allman Brothers ("Hard Wind") to the Jayhawks ("Got It Wrong”),” and that “the five-piece band fuses the essentials of rock, country, folk and blues into an intriguing new approach.”
• Influential British Metal crew Carcass performs Sunday at Covington’s Madison Theater. Considered pioneers of Grindcore and melodic Death Metal, the band was also a favorite of British taste-making DJ John Peel. Carcass split up in the ’90s but reunited in 2007 for a string of shows, leading up to their entire back catalog being reissued. In 2013, the group released its first album of new music in 16 years, Surgical Steel. Next week the band is releasing a five song EP, Surgical Remission/Surplus Steel, which features tracks recorded during the Surgical Steel sessions.
Here’s the lyric video for the EP’s “Livestock Marketplace”:
Read Brian Baker’s preview of the show here.
Carcass headlines the Madison Sunday with fellow Metal giants Obituary and guests Exhumed and Noisem. Showtime is 8 p.m. The show is open to all ages. Tickets are $25.
• The local chapter of the Guitars For Vets nonprofit organization, which provides musical therapy in the form of guitar lessons to military veterans at the local VA Hospital suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, presents its second annual benefit this Sunday at 1 p.m. at Jim and Jack’s on the River (jimandjacks.net). The event is free and features performances by noted local guitarists Sonny Moorman and Dick Buchholz, who will perform with Guitar For Vets students. There will also be a guitar auction and raffle to raise funds for the cause. For more information on Guitars For Vets, visit guitars4vets.org.
Click here for more live music events this weekend in Greater Cincinnati.

Plus news on Walk the Moon, Foxy Shazam and the second annual Guitars for Vets benefit

One of Cincinnati's most popular musicians, Ricky Nye, brings his Blues and Boogie Piano Summit back for its 15th year this weekend. Plus, Walk the Moon's new album, Talking is Hard, gets a release date, Foxy Shazam announce extended hiatus and Guitars for Vets presents its second annual benefit event Sunday.

The local chapter of the Guitars for Veterans organization presents a benefit event/auction this Sunday. Plus, Ricky Nye brings the Blues and Boogie Piano Summit back to Newport, Dallas Moore honored by the Outlaw Music Hall of Fame and MC Till and Sean Little launch their intimate Cincinnati Homeshow Tour.

EdenSong becomes "ArtSong" with move to Cincinnati Art Museum

EdenSong, the long-running summer concert series presented by the Queen City Balladeers, kicks off this Friday in Eden Park, but not in its usual outdoor spot at the Seasongood Pavilion. For the 2013 series, EdenSong is moving just up the hill and indoors — inside the Cincinnati Art Museum, to be exact. The series — now dubbed ArtSong — runs every Friday through Aug. 2 and, as usual, features an excellent collection of primarily local Americana/Roots music performers. The concerts will take place in the museum’s Fath Auditorium. Seating is more limited, so organizers advise arriving earlier than the 8 p.m. start time. Attendees are asked to enter the museum’s Dewitt entrance on the side of the building, in lieu of using the front doors. The EdenSong concerts remain free (donations are, of course, welcome) and there is free parking on the museum grounds. This Friday's opening concert features the impressive lineup of Shiny & the Spoon, Ma Crow & the Lady Slippers, Lisa Biales, Anachrorhythms and Bob Kotz. For the July 19 show, you can catch Ricky Nye, Wild Carrot & the Roots Band, Jim’s Red Pants, Steve Bonafel & One Iota and Ellie Fabe. The lineup for July 26 features Anna & Milovan, Red Cedars, Silver Arm, Greg Schaber and Calamity Rain. And for the Aug. 2 closer, you'll be able to see/hear The Rattlesnakin' Daddies, Bromwell-Diehl Band, the Hertz Brothers, Ann & Phil Case and John Ford.For more info, visit queencityballadeers.org.

International ensemble doing several shows in support of area singer's 'Singing In My Soul'

Masterful Cincinnati Boogie Woogie piano stylist Ricky Nye is much loved in his hometown. In CityBeat's Best of Cincinnati issue this year, readers voted Nye "Best Local Musician," which he also won last year. And there's a pretty good chance he has more Cincinnati Entertainment Awards and CAMMY awards (the old Enquirer program) than any other musician in the area. All year, Nye (who founded the internationally-flavored Blues and Boogie Summit concerts, which took a break in 2012 but may make a comeback soon) performs about four nights a week in area clubs, bars and restaurants, his ace chops and entertaining performances helping to woo Cincinnati into loving him. (He's also a super-nice guy, so that probably helps too.)But Nye has also been working on earning love (and spreading the good word of Boogie Woogie Blues) elsewhere. Nye travels to Europe (which has a larger fan base for his particular brand of Blues) annually to perform numerous shows, particularly in France (this past fall, Nye also played a few shows in Switzerland along with his French itinerary). During one previous visit, Nye snatched up a trio of French musicians with whom to play and record, christening the group Ricky Nye and the Paris Blues Band. Besides during Nye's visits overseas, the Paris Blues Band has also recorded albums with Nye, including 2008's superb Ville Du Bois, a self-titled release from 2011 and last year's Jump Steady, which came out at the same time as France's Fabrice Eulry & The Rolling Twisters' Twistin' At Ray's, which Nye co-produced in Cincy, and the annual Blues and Boogie Summit highlight compilation album recorded at the 13th annual event in 2011. This visit, the band will be performing to promote their latest recording, Singing in My Soul, by Oxford, Ohio, singer Lisa Biales and featuring Nye and the PBB on backing. The album is a mix of Blues, Gospel, Roots and Pop, featuring covers of songs by Mississippi John Hurt, Sippie Wallace, Peggy Lee, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and others. Click here to read more and to purchase the release. For the past few years, Nye has been bringing his Paris Blues Band — Thibaut Chopin (upright bass), Simon Boyer (drums) and Anthony Stelmaszack (guitar). — to the Cincinnati area to do a handful of shows. Since last Friday, Ricky Nye and the Paris Blues Band (usually with Biales singing) have been touring the heck out of the region, playing Rabbit Hash, Ky., and Oxford, Ohio, and also doing an episode of Northern Kentucky radio station WNKU's "Studio 89," where the band played and was interviewed live on the air.Tonight, the "tour" picks up at Chez Nora in Covington's Main Strasse district. Nye and the Paris Blues Band play at 7:30 p.m. and there is no admission charge. Tomorrow (Thursday), Nye and Co. head back to Oxford for a performance at the Oxford Community Arts Center (showtime is 8 p.m., tickets are $10 and it's BYOB), then set off for Worthington, Ohio, for a Friday show at Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza and Concert House. Nye and his French pals close out the mini-tour on Saturday with a sold-out show at the Baker Hunt Art and Cultural Center in Covington, Ky. Click here to find out more about Nye and his various projects and here for his official site.

The 2013 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards ceremony/party late last month at Covington’s Madison Theater was filmed on high-quality video and this Saturday, for the first time in the 16-year history of the CEAs, fans who want to relive the performances and presentations (or those who missed it altogether) will have a chance to watch the show on television. The show includes the short but very sweet live sets from Bad Veins’ Ben Davis, The Dopamines, Gold Shoes, Ricky Nye, Jess Lamb and Culture Queer, as well as an all-star presentation of songs from the Come Play the Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams at Herzog EP put together by the Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation. Saturday at 9 p.m., thanks to the Intercommunity Cable Regulatory Commission, the full show will be aired on ICRC TV, available in select communities in the Cincinnati area via Time Warner Cable channel 4. The show will be rebroadcast on the same channel Monday at 8:30 p.m., March 1 at 10 p.m. and March 2 at noon. (Check here — in the column on the left — to see if the broadcast is available in your area.)For those in Cincinnati proper, you can watch the CEAs on Time Warner channel 24 on Feb. 27 and on March 6 at 9 a.m. A Northern Kentucky broadcast is also in the works, as is the ability to watch the program online. Stay tuned to this here music blog for the latest updates. If those air times don’t work for you, you can also purchase a copy on DVD. Simply email melissa@icrctv.com to inquire about delivery and prices. (Program reference number is 16534.) To relive the ceremony in photos and words, click here.